1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a simulation display system which displays the operation of program by animation. For example, the present invention relates to a simulation display system which is employed under a sequencer programming environment and capable of identifying program errors by expressing the program operation at a program producing stage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, there has been no technique in which the operation of program is displayed by animation. Conventionally, because the manner in which that respective function blocks operate as a result of programming is not displayed, it is difficult to predict the operation of a program at a pre-execution stage unless the function blocks to be used are sufficiently understood.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problem, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a simulation display system which expresses the operation of function blocks by animation display to display the partial or entire operation of a program, thereby being capable of a readily predicting the operation of program.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a simulation display system comprising input deciding means for designating an external signal, a signal which is replaced by an event or an event; and an animation block for displaying the operation of problem to be subjected to simulation by animation on the basis of the signal or event designated by the input deciding means.
Also, in the simulation display system according to the present invention, the animation block comprises: input obtaining means for obtaining the signal or the event designated by the input deciding means as an input; reproduction frame data in which a relation of an input, a present reproduction frame and a succeeding reproduction frame is described in advance; reproduction frame deciding means for deciding an animation display frame to be succeedingly displayed with reference to the reproduction frame data on the basis of the input obtained by the input obtaining means and a present animation display frame; animation image data in which a relation of the succeeding reproduction frame and animation image contents is described in advance; display means for displaying a subject animation display frame with reference to the animation image data on the basis of a succeeding reproduction frame decided by the reproduction frame deciding means; output correspondence data in which a relation of the present reproduction frame and an output is described in advance; and output deciding means for deciding a signal or an event as a subject output with reference to the output correspondence data on the basis of the present animation display frame.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a simulation display system comprising: input deciding means for designating an external signal, a signal replaced by an event or an event; update control means for sending a display update command to synchronize a plurality of animation displays with each other; a first animation block for displaying the operation of a first function block that constitutes the program to be subjected to simulation by a first animation on the basis of the signal or the event designated by the input deciding means according to the display update command; and a second animation block for displaying the operation of a second function block that constitutes the program to be subjected to simulation by a second animation on the basis of the signal or the event designated by the input deciding means according to the display update command.
According to the present invention, the simulation display system further comprises reproduction control means for sending a reproduction command for starting the reproduction of animation and a stop command for stopping the reproduction of animation, wherein the update control means sends the display update command to all of the animation blocks upon receiving the reproduction command.
Still further, in the simulation display system according to the present invention, each of the first and second animation blocks comprises input obtaining means for obtaining the signal or the event designated by the input deciding means as an input; reproduction frame data in which a relation of an input, a present reproduction frame and a succeeding reproduction frame is described in advance, reproduction frame deciding means for deciding an animation display frame to be succeedingly displayed with reference to the reproduction frame data on the basis of the input obtained by the input obtaining means and a present animation display frame; animation image data in which a relation of the succeeding reproduction frame and animation image contents is described in advance; display means for displaying a subject animation display with reference to the animation image data on the basis of a succeeding reproduction frame decided by the reproduction frame deciding means; output correspondence data in which a relation of the present reproduction frame and an output is described in advance; and output deciding means for deciding a signal or an even as a subject output with reference to the output correspondence data on the basis of the present animation display frame, wherein the input obtaining means of the second animation block obtains an output decided by the output deciding means of the first animation block as an input.